At Your Side
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: Dipper has a panic attack when reminded of something he would rather forget about. Mabel takes it upon her self to help him.


Like all good things, the summer that Mabel and Dipper spent in Gravity Falls seemed to end much too soon. Before Mabel knew it, she and her brother had had to return home to Piedmont, California. The summer was over, and so was their time in Gravity Falls.

Mabel tried not to be too sad about it though. After all, there would always be another summer next year. And until then, they could always keep in contact with all the new friends they had made by means of emails, letters, and phone calls. Mabel just had to keep telling herself that just because summer was over for now did not mean that her life was.

And, in some ways, it _was_ nice to be back in Piedmont again. Yeah, Mabel missed Gravity Falls more than anything, and The Mystery Shack definitely now felt like a second home to her, but it was nice to see her parents again. And Mabel could think of one good thing about the summer now being over, and that was that school had started up again.

Now, Mabel may not be a nerdy dork like her brother, but she did really enjoy school. She liked being around her friends, and she even liked many of her classes. Plus, school was unpredictable. Every day was almost like a mini adventure, you never know what's going to happen! Mabel liked unpredictability...until it become something bad, which did happen sometimes.

Well, whatever happened, good or bad, Mabel knew that Dipper would have her back through it all, and she had his. The two of them were a team, they always had been, and they would be now, even if this year was going to be a _little_ different.

Unlike their previous years at school, Mabel and Dipper didn't share all of the same classes. In fact, they didn't share _most_ of their classes this year, and that was...okay. Different, and not always fun, but okay.

It wasn't like they decided to take different classes to get away from each other. Nothing like that. Mabel and Dipper just had different interests, and their schedules showed it.

While Mabel was taking art and sewing classes, Dipper had elected for computer science and woodworking. When Mabel had asked Dipper why he chose woodworking, of all things, he had just shrugged and said he wanted to try something new, and none of the other electives had appealed to him.

They also had different english and math and science classes. Dipper was in the advanced classes of those subjects, while Mabel was just sticking to the regular math and science classes. They were already hard enough, no reason to make them impossible. For english, Mabel was in the creative writing class, which was much more her speed.

They did still share the same gym and history classes, as well as lunch hours, which Mabel was extremely grateful for. She didn't know what she would do if she didn't have her brother at her side for at least _part_ of the school day.

Dipper sharing her history class was half of the reason that Mabel actually sometimes enjoyed that subject. The other half was because their teacher, Mr. Fredrick, made history interesting, not 'fun' like other teachers tried (and failed) to do.

Mr. Fredrick understood that kids could have short attention spans, so he would only ever spend half the class period giving a traditional lesson. During the rest of the time, he lead the class in a discussion where the kids were free to speak their minds.

During these discussions, any relevant topics and questions that the kids brought up could be addressed, as long as they were appropriate. Everybody enjoyed these discussions, whether they participated in them or not. It was just nice to have an atmosphere where the kids were encouraged to ask questions and share theories. Mabel liked it, and even sometimes got highly involved and passionate about the subject. Dipper always loved these discussions, regardless of the topic.

Despite how much she liked the style of their history class, some of the lessons could get a little boring, and the discussion topics didn't always interest her. On days where that happened, Mabel would try to pay attention for a few minutes, before ultimately giving up and doing something else to pass the time.

It wasn't that Mabel didn't like the class, or that she was just being lazy and slacking off, she just lost interest sometimes. It all worked out okay though, because if anything really important was brought up in class while she wasn't paying attention, Dipper always made sure to fill her in. It was times like this that Mabel was glad to have such a nerd for a brother.

On one of those boring days in history class, Mabel payed attention during the actual lesson, but when the discussion came around, she completely zoned out. She didn't even know for sure what they were talking about, it might have had something to do with secret societies and conspiracy theories, and she wasn't really interested in it.

She had never been as big of a mystery nut as Dipper was, and after their eventful summer in Gravity Falls, Mabel had had enough of mysteries and secrets to last her a lifetime. So as soon as the conversation turned to that stuff, Mabel tuned it all out, took out her sketchbook, and began to work on her latest project for art class. Technically, it was still school work, so it was allowed.

As Mabel focused on her drawing, she was vaguely aware of Dipper next to her. He was completely engaged in the discussion, even more than he usually was. Mabel had expected this though, because if there was one thing Dipper loved more than anything else, it was a good mystery. He got a thrill from trying to discover new things, and an even bigger one when he found any answers.

Every few minutes or so Dipper would become overly excited and enthusiastic about whatever was being said. Mabel couldn't help but smile whenever he did this. She was happy for Dipper, that he could enjoy himself so much with this sort of thing.

About midway through the discussion though, something changed. Somebody said something, Mabel couldn't tell you what it was, because she hadn't been paying attention, but it caused Dipper to gasp out loud. Not one of his 'this-is-so-interesting-I-can't-believe-it' gasps, but more like his scared or startled gasp.

Confused, and just a tad bit concerned, Mabel turned toward her brother. She was shocked to see that he actually looked scared. Dipper had gone pale and he was staring with wide, frightened eyes at something in front of him.

"Uh, Dipper? Are you okay?" Mabel reached out and touched her brother's arm, but immediately pulled back when he flinched violently at the contact.

"I-i'm fine." Dipper said quietly. He glanced around the room nervously, as if afraid that somebody was watching them. "I just...I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." Mabel pointed out.

"I was just, uh, surprised by something. That's all." Dipper insisted, but Mabel didn't believe him.

"...Okay." Mabel said slowly. She knew that Dipper wasn't telling her everything. Heck, he wasn't telling her anything! But she knew her brother, and when he didn't want to tell her something, he tried his hardest to avoid telling her. Mabel hated it when Dipper kept secrets from her, and she would eventually get the truth out of him. But, maybe now, while they were in the middle of class, was not a good time to do so.

Dipper nodded and immediately turned his attention back to the discussion, though Mabel got the feeling that it was more to avoid talking to her about what was wrong. Mabel sighed and reluctantly returned to her drawing, though she did make sure to keep an eye on Dipper as she worked. He still seemed much too shaken up for her taste.

The minutes passed, and not once did Dipper say anything or react to the discussion around him. He just sat silently in his chair. Mabel, even more worried for her brother than before, turned her full, undivided attention back to him, and what she saw made her even more concerned, and even scared.

Dipper's eyes were blank and emotionless. It didn't really seem like he was looking at anything in particular. Dipper was clutching at his desk with such a strong grip that his knuckles had gone white. Dipper's whole posture was tense.

Seeing her brother like this, Mabel knew that it wasn't just some little startle that had bothered him. Something had really scared Dipper, and it must've been really, _really_ bad if it got Dipper like this. Mabel wanted to help her brother, but she wasn't sure exactly what she could do. She didn't even know what was wrong!

Unable to stand seeing her brother like this, Mabel did the first thing that came to her mind.

"Mr. Fredrick!" Mabel called out loudly and raised her hand to get her teacher's attention, as if her shouting hadn't already gotten it. "I think Dipper's sick. I need to take him to the nurse."

This caught everyone's attention, and immediately the kids began talking amongst themselves. Some of the biggest jerks in the class were muttering about how Dipper was just faking it so that he could get out of class early. Most of the students though knew that Dipper never wanted to miss any part of their classes, and only did so if it was absolutely necessary. So the kids began asking each other, what had happened to make Dipper have to leave class?

Mr. Fredrick took one look at Mabel's obvious concern and Dipper's panicked expression, and agreed to let them go, without questioning why. The two of them were good students, and Mr. Fredrick trusted that they weren't doing this just for a 'get-out-of-class-free-card'.

Mabel felt relief wash over her when Mr. Fredrick said they could go. Quickly, before he could change his mind and try to stop her, Mabel grabbed her brother's hand and dragged him out of the classroom. As soon as they were out of the room, Mabel took off running, with Dipper close behind her.

Mabel didn't know exactly where she was running to, because she was pretty sure Dipper wasn't sick, and didn't actually need to see the nurse. That had just been an excuse to get them out of the class. All Mabel knew was that whatever had bothered her brother had been in that classroom, so, that meant that the sooner she could get Dipper as far away from there as possible, the better.

Mabel found surprisingly little resistance in dragging Dipper along. He was actually very willing to run through the halls, which was against school rules. That, along with the tight grip that Dipper had on her hand, told Mabel that he was still scared. That Dipper was running away from something specific.

The two of them ran until they got to the other side of the school, at which point Mabel could feel Dipper slow down beside her. Now wanting to force her brother farther than he wanted to go, Mabel slowed down and stopped as well. She was slightly out of breath from their run. Dipper, on the other hand, was practically gasping for breath, and it almost seemed like he was on the verge of hyperventilation.

Dipper pulled his hand away from Mabel's and leaned against a nearby wall. Dipper let himself slide to the ground until he was in a sitting position. He brought his shaky hands to his head and clutched at his hair a bit. Dipper's knees were drawn close to his chest, and he seemed to be muttering to himself, though Mabel couldn't understand the words.

"Dipper? Are you okay?" Mabel asked quietly. "Are you up for talking about it?" Dipper shook his head, though Mabel couldn't tell if he was saying no, he wasn't okay, or no, he didn't feel like talking about it. Than again, Dipper was usually fairly open about his issues, so if he wasn't up for talking about it, that probably meant that he wasn't okay.

Mabel stood awkwardly in the middle of the hallway and watched as her brother tried to calm himself down. Mabel wanted to help him, but she wasn't sure how. She really hated when this happened. It didn't happen very often, but sometimes Dipper did have panic attacks like this one, and Mabel was never sure how to help him. Sometimes, physical contact helped calm him down. Other times, Dipper flinched away from any and all forms of contact and touching him just made everything worse.

Not knowing whether she should hug Dipper or give him his space, Mabel just stood there. The best she could do was wait until Dipper gave her a sign that it was okay to touch him. It took a few minutes, but finally Dipper was able to calm himself down a bit. His breathing was back to normal, he wasn't shaking as much as he had been, and, though he was still clutching at his head, his grip wasn't as tight as it had been before.

A short while later, Dipper brought one of his hands away from his head and held it out to Mabel, who immediately recognized it as the invitation she had been waiting for. Dipper was ready for some physical contact. Mabel's instinct was to just envelope her brother in a hug, but she didn't know if he was quite ready for that yet. So, Mabel settled instead for kneeling in front of her brother, taking his hand, and holding it tight. Dipper held on to Mabel's hand just as tightly as she held on to his.

"Feeling better?" Mabel asked. She didn't ask if he was okay, because, obviously, he wasn't okay. She just wanted Dipper to talk to her.

"Y-yeah, I'm good." Dipper said. His voice was shaky, but it sounded like he was trying hard to sound normal. Like he was trying to convince Mabel that he was fine...or maybe he was trying to convince himself.

"What happened in there?" Mabel asked.

"I-I don't want to talk about it." Dipper shook his head. "Besides, it's not important."

"Not important? Dipper, you totally freaked out in there, and you think that's not important?" Mabel asked.

"That's not what I meant. I just-" Dipper sighed. "There was just something in class that reminded me of...something else."

Mabel thought that she understood. While she didn't know exactly what that something else was that Dipper had thought of that had made him freak out, Mabel was familiar with the feeling. Sometimes, out of nowhere, her thoughts turn to their future. How, in just a year, they will be entering the terror that is High School. Then, just a few short years after that, Dipper will likely run off to some nerdy college...without her.

Just a few months ago, Mabel had looked forward to growing up. Now, whenever she so much as thought about their future, a feeling of dread would come over her. If she began to think too deeply into it, she would feel sick to her stomach and begin to just start crying in fear. The only way that Mabel knew how to calm herself down when this happened was by turning on a movie, snuggling with Waddles, and forcing herself to think about something, _anything_ , else. If she didn't think about their future, she wouldn't be afraid of it.

Maybe...maybe Dipper needed the same thing right now. To be distracted from whatever had freaked him out in the first place. Fortunately, providing a distraction was something that Mabel could do very easily.

"Well then, we'll just have to get you to stop thinking about that something else, won't we?" Mabel said cheerfully. She stood up and dragged Dipper to his feet too.

"How are we going to do that?" Dipper frowned.

"We can have a sibling fun day!" Mabel announced with a grin. Well, it would be more like a sibling fun half-day, since they had lost a few hours because of school, but it still counted. "We can go out and try to find some of those strange anoma-whatevers. I mean, I'm sure there's still some weird stuff around, even if we're not in Gravity Falls anymo-"

"No!" Dipper shouted in a panic. Mabel's eyes widened and she flinched slightly at Dipper's outburst. "I-I mean, I'm not in the mood for mysteries right now." Mabel gaped at her brother. Not in the mood for mysteries? That was...that was just unheard of.

"Uh, okay, we can do something else then." Mabel began just listing off suggestions, hoping that one of them would catch her brother's interest. "Like, uh, we can watch a movie, or play a boardgame, or write back to all of our friends in Gravity Falls-"

Dipper actually smiled slightly at that last suggestion. "Yeah, I'd like that." Mabel absolutely beamed.

"Writing back to our friends it is!" Mabel announced. "Let's go!" She began striding toward one of the school exits, but Dipper pulled her back.

"Mabel, we can't just leave." Dipper scolded, finally starting to sound like himself again. "School's still in session, and we can't-" Dipper got cut off from the ringing of the bell, indicating the end of the class period. And, since it had been the last class of the day, the end of school. Dipper looked up to the ceiling in astonishment. "Huh. I guess we can go."

"Yes!" Mabel pumped her fists excitedly. She began walking to leave the school, only to be, once again, pulled back by Dipper.

"Hang on. We left our stuff in the classroom, and there's no way we're leaving it all here for the whole weekend." Dipper insisted.

"Fine." Mabel groaned and rolled her eyes. "I'll go get our stupid stuff. Wait here for me." Mabel dashed off without another word, leaving Dipper standing in the hallway behind her. Dipper may have been the one to insist that they needed their things, and normally Mabel would, in turn, insist that, if he wanted their stuff so badly, he could be the one to go get them. After what had happened in class though, Mabel wasn't about to force Dipper to go back to that room.

She still had no idea what had set off his little panic attack in the first place. For all she knew, it had been an object in the classroom or something, which meant that he could possibly see it again if he returned to the room. Mabel wasn't going to put her brother through that. If there was even the smallest possibility that Dipper would freak out again by going back to that classroom so soon, Mabel was happy to be the one to retrieve their things.

Mabel returned to their classroom to find it nearly empty. All of the students had already left, so the only person still there was Mr. Fredrick, who was in the process of erasing what looked like a picture from the board. The teacher turned toward her when she entered the room.

"Ah, Mabel, I thought you'd be back." Mr. Fredrick said. "How's your brother doing?"

"Better, now." Mabel said as she gathered her and Dipper's things. "He just needed some air."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Fredrick asked. "We could have your parents pick you two up if you want."

Mabel smiled and shook her head. "No, we don't live too far. We'll be fine walking."

"If that's what you want." Mr. Fredrick said.

"It is." Mabel insisted. She waved goodbye to her teacher before leaving the room. "See you on Monday."

Now that she had gotten their things from the classroom, Mabel just had one more stop to make before she and Dipper could finally go home. Dipper had a lot of books and notes that he took to school, so many that, unlike Mabel, he couldn't just take everything to all of their classes. When he wasn't using something, he kept it in his locker, and Mabel knew that Dipper would refuse to leave until he had everything he might even consider needing during the weekend. So, a trip to his locker was required.

Fortunately, Mabel knew Dipper's locker combination just as well as she knew her own. Soon, she had gotten the rest of Dipper's junk and was making her way back to where she had left Dipper. While she had been gone, he hadn't moved at all. He just stood patiently by the wall as all the other kids hurried past in a rush to get away from the school.

"Hey, dork, I got your nerd books for you." Mabel said playfully as she handed the over-stuffed backpack to her brother. Dipper snorted slightly at her teasing. He knew she didn't say those kind of things to upset him. She was just messing around with him, just like he messed around with her. It was a sibling thing.

"I didn't think you would bother." Dipper said honestly. Mabel shrugged.

"I knew you wouldn't leave without them, and I didn't want to wait around any longer." Mabel took Dipper's hand again, squeezed it reassuringly, because, even though he seemed to be doing better, Mabel could tell that Dipper was still shaken up. He was just doing a good job at hiding it.

The rest of the day passed fairly regularly, and Mabel was relieved to see Dipper acting more and more like his normal self. It looked like distracting him had been a good strategy after all. The twins spent a fair amount of time reading and responding to emails from all their friends at Gravity Falls. They also spent a couple of hours video chatting with their Grunkles.

Basically, Dipper and Mabel did whatever they felt like, and it was nice. The hours passed quickly, and, all too soon, night had fallen and it was time for Mabel and Dipper to go to bed. Neither of them were in the mood for sleeping though, and tried to convince their parents to let them stay up just a _little_ longer. Unfortunately, their parents were stricter than Grunkle Stan, and when they said it was bedtime, it was bedtime, and there would be no swaying them.

So, Mabel reluctantly went to her room while Dipper went to his. Up until recently, the two of them had only ever shared a room, and that was the way that they had liked it. Upon returning home from Gravity Falls though, Dipper and Mabel agreed that it might be for the best if they had separate rooms. They were beginning to grow up, becoming their own people, and they needed to learn how to live without the other around constantly.

It was...hard, but manageable. Mabel didn't always like not sharing a room anymore, and she knew that Dipper felt the same way, but they both knew that they needed their privacy and personal space. And, on the bright side, they were no longer fighting over shared space. Dipper had all the room he needed for his mystery book collection, as well as all his other nerdy things. And Mabel could now put her art, sweaters, and stuffed animals wherever she wanted without Dipper getting mad at her for getting glitter everywhere.

Just because they now had separate rooms and took different classes did not mean that Mabel and Dipper were growing distant from each other, because they weren't. They just didn't want to be completely inseparable for a few more years, only to grow to resent each other. Basically, Dipper and Mabel really didn't want their relationship to go the way that their Grunkles' had. Because that would honestly be the worst thing in the world.

Mabel had thought that any separation from Dipper would be the worst thing in the world, and she had protested fiercely against having different rooms. Eventually though, Dipper, as well as Great Uncle Ford and even Grunkle Stan, were able to convince her that it would be for the best. So now, they no longer shared a room...for the most part. Mabel and Dipper did agree though that at least once a week, usually on Saturday, they would have a small sleepover in one of their rooms.

Tonight though wasn't their sleepover night, that was tomorrow night. Mabel had considered suggesting an impromptu sleepover, because even Dipper seemed fine, more than fine, even, she was still concerned. Ultimately, she decided against it, because she knew that Dipper would likely refuse, and she didn't want to make him feel like she was smothering him.

Despite her reluctance to go to bed that night, sleep came to Mabel fairly quickly. All too soon though, Mabel found herself waking up. Mabel blinked and looked around the room in confusion, trying to figure out why she had woken up. It was still very dark in her room, with little light coming through the window, which meant that it was either really _really_ early, or really late, depending on how you looked at it.

Usually, when Mabel fell asleep, she stayed asleep until morning. The only times she woke up in the middle of the night was if she had a bad dream, and Mabel was positive she hadn't had any dreams. So, why was she awake?

Mabel was in the middle of trying to figure it out when she heard her bedroom door open. Surprised, Mabel sat up and looked toward the door.

"Dipper? What are you doing here?" Mabel asked when she saw her brother standing in the doorway. Dipper gave a yelp. He obviously hadn't expected to find Mabel awake.

"M-mabel? What are you doing awake?" Dipper asked. Mabel shrugged, only to realize that the room was still really dark, and Dipper likely couldn't see it. Mabel, who didn't like being kept in the dark, climbed out of her bed and went to turn the light on.

Now that she could see him properly, Mabel was shocked by her brother's appearance. Dipper's eyes were red, and his cheeks were tear-stained, which meant that he had been crying. Dipper's eyes were also wide and Mabel could see obvious fear in them. He also didn't look like he had slept very well.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Mabel asked, even though she didn't need to. Dipper had been getting nightmares a lot lately. This one though seemed like it had been a particularly bad one. Mabel sat down on her bed and patted the spot next to her. Dipper didn't even hesitate before joining her on the bed.

"So...did your nightmare have anything to do with what happened at school today?" Mabel asked. It made sense for Dipper's bad nightmare and bad panic attack to be somehow connected.

"Kinda." Dipper admitted reluctantly. Mabel crossed her arms and looked at her brother sternly.

"Alright. Enough is enough. Tell me what happened today." Mabel insisted. Dipper looked at her with wide eyes.

"What? No!" Dipper said. "I told you, it's nothing."

"No, obviously, it's not nothing." Mabel said. She sighed and continued with a quieter voice. "I'm just worried about you, Dipper. I want to help you, but I have no idea what's even wrong."

Dipper was about to continue to insist that he was fine and didn't need her help, but stopped himself when he saw tears beginning to glisten in Mabel's eyes. Dipper absolutely hated seeing Mabel cry.

"You know, Great Uncle Ford told me that he gets nightmares sometimes too, and he said that talking about it helps." Mabel sniffled. Dipper sighed in defeat. He hadn't told Mabel before this because he hadn't wanted to upset her...but she was getting pretty upset about not being told. Besides, if Great Uncle Ford said that talking helped, than it probably would.

"...Do you know what the discussion was about today?" Dipper asked quietly. Mabel blinked and tried to remember.

"Uh, secret societies?" Mabel guessed.

"Yeah. Most of the talk was centered around two groups in particular; The Freemasons, and The Illuminati."

Those names sounded vaguely familiar to Mabel. "Is that why you freaked out?"

"Kinda." Dipper rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the floor. He took a deep breath before forcing himself to continue. "There is a-a symbol that is commonly used to represent both the Freemasons and the Illuminati."

"And? What's the symbol?" Mabel urged her brother to continue.

"It-it's called the Eye of Providence." Dipper said, as if Mabel knew what that meant.

"Okay...what does it look like?" She asked. Dipper closed his mouth and refused to meet her gaze. Mabel glared at her brother. "If you don't tell me what it is, I'm going downstairs to look it up on the computer myself."

"No!" Dipper's eyes snapped up to meet hers, and, once again, Mabel could see the clear fear in his eyes. Mabel's gaze softened and she watched as her brother seemed to be trying to force himself to tell her, even though it was clear that that was the last thing that he wanted to do.

"Do you want to draw it instead?" Mabel asked. She herself knew that sometimes it was easier to express something through a picture than through words.

"Absolutely not." Dipper said. He took in a deep, shuddering breath before telling her "The Eye of Providence is often shown as a picture of a...a triangle with an eye in the middle."

Oh…

 _Oh._

"Bill?" Mabel asked simply. Dipper shuddered and nodded.

"I just...I know that Bill is gone, and isn't coming back." Dipper said. "But I still see signs of him _everywhere_."

"And you're still scared." Mabel said. She didn't fail to notice how Dipper's face went red with embarrassment when she said that. Mabel nudged her brother with her elbow. "Hey, it's okay. Honestly, I'm still a little scared too. In fact," It was Mabel's turn to look at the ground. "I've gotten some nightmare's about him too."

"You have?" Dipper asked, his voice sad. Why hadn't she told him about them...then again, he hadn't told her about his nightmares, so Dipper thought it was only fair.

"Well, yeah." Mabel said and shook her head. "Whenever I do though, I just tell myself that the demon Dorito can't hurt us anymore."

"Demon Dor-" Dipper chuckled and shoved his sister slightly. "Mabel, that's crazy." Mabel smiled brightly. She knew that it was crazy. That's why it worked so well. And hey, it worked to cheer her brother up a bit, so Mabel considered that a win. Still, it was obvious that Dipper was still upset, and Mabel knew that some company would really help cheer him up even more. And, since it was so late and they were technically supposed to be asleep…

"Wanna have a sleepover?" Mabel asked energetically.

"I don't know." Dipper frowned slightly. "I mean, I would love to have a sleepover, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to, you know, sleep."

"Oh." Dipper was still scared and didn't want to have another nightmare. Mabel understood the feeling. She was always worried about going back to sleep after having a really bad nightmare. Fortunately, she had a good remedy for that too.

Mabel smiled mischievously, jumped off from her bed, and knelt down to the ground to grab something from under the bed.

"Uh, Mabel? What are you doing?" Dipper asked.

"Eating a snack always helps me calm down after a nightmare." Mabel said as she continued groping about for whatever she was looking for down there. "And I have a special snack hidden for special case nightmares like this."

"Nightmares like this?" Dipper only had to think for a moment before realizing what she was talking about. "No." Dipper said with a grin.

"Yes!" Mabel exclaimed as she proudly held out the snack that she had been looking for. A bag of Doritos. Dipper couldn't help it, he began laughing.

"This-this is absolutely insane." Dipper gasped.

"What? It works." Mabel grinned, opened the bag, took out a perfectly triangle shaped chip, and bit into it dramatically. Dipper completely lost it, and Mabel laughed along with him. Dipper put a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. He reminded himself that their parents were still asleep, and would not appreciate being woken up at all.

"Come on, try it." Mabel encouraged. She held out the bag and shook it a little. Dipper bit his lip, put his hand into the bag and pulled out a handful of Doritos. Dipper stared at the triangle shaped, scowled, and crushed them all in his hand. Mabel whooped and Dipper smirked. That had felt strangely satisfying.

The two kids spent the next while eating Doritos, crushing them to pieces, and just goofing off in general. It was only when the bag was empty did the two of them finally stop. The floor was covered with Dorito crumbs, but that wasn't important. Mabel could just vacuum the room in the morning. What was important though was that she had gotten Dipper feeling better about this whole thing. He was even ready to sleep again.

Mabel turned of the light, crawled back into bed, and scooted to the side to make room for Dipper. Mabel took her brother's hand and squeezed it.

"Are you okay?" Mabel asked, just to be sure.

"Yeah." Dipper said, and Mabel believed him. "Thank you."

"No problem, Bro-Bro." Mabel said with a yawn. "I mean, what're twins for?" Dipper 'hmm'ed contently. A few minutes later, both of them fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


End file.
